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Issues with Alcohol 🍷

March 27, 2017

One drink can’t be that bad, right?

In regards to your health, let’s look into how alcohol can affect your body and your progress.

First off, alcohol is 7 calories per gram and no nutritional value, meaning that all the calories consumed are empty calories. So let’s say you have a glass of wine, those 5 ounces are about 110 calories.

Not only does alcohol process quickly in your body and you may not realize how much you have drank until you’ve had too much, alcohol also tends to stimulate your appetite and since you are under the influence, you may not be aware of how healthy your food choices are. (Let’s be honest, no one is going to have a salad after having a drink or two)

So now we have 110 calories plus a serving of say popcorn as a snack after dinner with your wine, at 160 calories. Now we’re at 270 extra calories for the day.

While 270 calories doesn’t seem like much, that is a conservative estimate with only one drink and one serving of popcorn. Typically, it could be a couple drinks (some of them mixed drinks, high in sugar and calories) and more food putting you way over your calorie intake for the day.

Additionally, drinking can negatively affect your metabolism, slowing it down, and not allowing your body to use fat cells for energy as your body will use the calories from the alcohol instead. In turn, this can cause weight gain due to the buildup of fatty acids that have not been metabolized by your liver.

To summarize, drinking will provide you with empty calories, increase your appetite, slow your metabolism, and lead you to higher chances of unhealthy food choices. This downward spiral can easily and quickly happen whether you’re out with friends or at home after a long day.

So does that mean we have to give up drinking?

Not necessarily, it is completely understandable that drinking is not only a social but also a relaxing ritual after a long day. However, drinking smart and making good choices while drinking is key. Limiting how often and how much you drink, eating a healthy meal before drinking, (don’t skip meals in effort to save calories) and have healthy options to eat while drinking can make it less tempting to binge on unhealthy foods.

Thank you all for listening and I hope this helps make healthy choices!